Ukraine First?
 
As I thought more last night about yesterday's testimony during the House impeachment hearing, I found myself getting angry.  Let me explain why.
 
The two key witnesses selected by the House majority to kickoff this high-profile spectacle, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent and Ambassador William Taylor, are experts on Ukraine. 
 
It was clear from their remarks that they both have a real heart for Ukraine.  They really want to help Ukraine and are very concerned about President Trump's views and policies.
 
They weren't quite so concerned when Barack Obama promised to show Vladimir Putin his "flexibility."  They didn't become part of a sham impeachment effort to oust Obama after he did next to nothing when Russia invaded Ukraine. 
 
Kent and Taylor seemingly think they are in charge of Ukrainian policy and that the president should be taking orders from the permanent bureaucracy at Foggy Bottom. 
They couldn't be more wrong. 
 
The president's job is to look out for America first.  He doesn't work for the State Department.  He sets the policy, they follow orders.
 
President Trump had well-founded concerns about sending hundreds of millions of dollars to Ukraine.  By all accounts, it is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and foreign aid is your tax dollars.  The president has an obligation to make sure it's not stolen. 
 
Moreover, Donald Trump has long believed that Ukraine was more of a concern for Europe than America.  And, believe it or not, Robert Mueller investigated the president for that opinion. 
 
Trump was talking to the newly-elected president of Ukraine and he wanted to find out whether President Zelensky was committed to rooting out corruption. 
 
He also wanted to inform Zelensky that there was an investigation going on in our government (the Durham investigation) to figure out how much the previous Ukrainian government colluded with the Clinton campaign to interfere in the 2016 election. 
 
Trump asked Zelensky if he would work with the Department of Justice to get to the bottom of it.  And, by the way, the Bidens may be involved.
 
President Trump had every right to ask for President Zelensky's cooperation thanks to a treaty on mutual legal assistance signed by Bill Clinton.
 
And this is what the left is trying to impeach the president over?
 
By the way, George Kent testified yesterday that he still believes Burisma -- the Ukrainian company that paid Hunter Biden $50,000 a month -- deserves to be investigated for corruption.  Why isn't that "breaking news"?
 
 
 
The Hearsay Hearings
 
My friends, it is difficult to overstate just how weak the case against the president truly is. 
 
Neither of yesterday's opening witnesses have ever talked to the president.  They never talked to White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.  They never talked to Rudy Giuliani.  Nor were they on the July phone call with President Zelensky. 
 
In one of the more revealing moments yesterday, Ambassador Taylor admitted that he had little of substance to offer when he said, "What I can do here for you today is tell you what I heard from people."
 
This is a huge problem for Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff.  And don't take my word for it.  Even CNN's legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin says it's a problem.
 
Taylor and Kent testified previously behind closed doors.  They spoke for hours and hours yesterday.  And the only thing of any substance to come out of it was . . . more hearsay -- that one of Taylor's aides allegedly overheard a conversation at a restaurant between the ambassador to the European Union and the president.
 
This hearsay would never be allowed in any court.  But the left's excitement over this additional hearsay is just more evidence that it is desperately trying to manufacture something that doesn't exist.
 
 
 
Taking On Russia
 
While progressives were playing partisan games on your dime, what was the president doing yesterday?  He spent hours attempting to negotiate extremely complicated foreign policy matters with the very difficult president of Turkey.
 
As you may know, Turkey is a member of NATO.  The United States has a critical airbase in Turkey with dozens of nuclear weapons.  But the Turkish nation that joined NATO in 1952 is not the same nation today.
 
While the modern state of Turkey has been seen as a secular bridge between Europe and the Middle East, President Erdogan is an Islamist whose sympathies do not align with the West's.
 
In recent years, Erdogan has been cozying up to Russia, which the left claims to be so concerned about.  While liberals were trying to impeach him, Trump spent his day trying to stop Russia's advances.
 
 
 
Pope Francis Condemns Anti-Semitism
 
Pope Francis went "off script" Tuesday during his weekly audience to issue a forceful condemnation of anti-Semitism.  It was a much needed statement given recent events throughout Europe -- from the anti-Semitism scandal plaguing the British Labour Party to the Yom Kippur attack on a German synagogue.
 
Here's what Pope Francis said:
 
"I would like to make a separate note. The Jewish people have suffered so much in history, they have been chased away, they, too, have been persecuted.
 
"In the last century we saw so many brutalities against the Jewish people, and we were all convinced that this was over.  But today the habit of persecuting the Jews, brothers and sisters, is here reborn.  This is neither human nor Christian.
 
"The Jewish people are our brothers, and they should not be persecuted."